"In the first half of 2012, faced with the complicated and volatile economic environment at home and abroad, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council committed to the general tone of progressing steadily," a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics said.

Asian markets are mostly higher on the report, particularly after both industrial production and retail sales remained near previous readings; economists had been expecting a moderate pullback in both figures.

China's Shanghai Stock Exchange is up more than 0.5 percent, reversing an earlier marginal decline.